Can the boy talk or what?

Really..honestly…can the boy of mine talk or what? He talks so much that some days I cry, I beg, I threaten to throw him in the trash can all for what? just a few minutes of peace and quiet. (En nelamaiyil irundhu partha thaan theriyum ungalukku ellam – you would know what it is to endure this, day in day out, only if you endure it). He is the not the child who will ask questions…he is rather opinionated and will state the facts and tell you to follow what he thinks is right, in all his 3 (almost 4) years of wisdom! Some are interesting, some are thought-provoking and some are mind-boggling. I honestly don’t know what category this one falls under, but trust me when he said this, my jaws were hanging to the floor. So this is what happened.

2-3 weeks back one day, after jumping over his rather dangerous toys ( the kind that you want to throw away after you have crushed to pieces with your bare hands, should you by mistake step on it), I told him, “enough is enough. Please pick up your toys”. No response. I repeated my request. Still no answer. Finally I raised my voice and what does the boy say???? “Mommy, you are a bumble bee”.  “Why” I ask, with a confused look on my face. His reply was..”mommy, you are always saying something and it sounds like this…bzzzzz bzzzzz, just like a bee does. That’s why”. And if this wasn’t enough, he walked to the door that leads to the yard, yanks it open and just like you would shoo and bee out, he shooed me out of the door, shut it, dusted his hands and went right back to playing with his toys. Me??? I was just standing there, looking like an idiot with my mouth open. I wouldn’t have known, if a bee had flown inside it.

Well, that was the end to the clean up party, since my ego was hurt terribly and I didn’t want to be called by the name of any other animal. Nalla maattukku oru soodu (a tamil saying which roughly means, a person with a working brain needs to be told only once, to not to repeat a mistake). Kids these days…enatha solradhu…(what to say).

Well…hello after a very long time!

Many fellow bloggers have dropped subtle and not so subtle hints recently, about updating this page. Me? I always promised myself to drop in a line, but never did it, until now. Sorry to all those who have patiently come by and checked this page for updates. I don’t who those 21 people are who stop by and check this page almost everyday, but to them I am extremely thankful.

The reason blogging took a back seat was because, I am actively job hunting which so far has been not so fruitful due to my very limited work experience, before I decided to quit the job in 2006. And of course a gap in employment history doesn’t act in one’s favor too. So I am going to be plogging along looking for something to work out. So until then remember me in your prayers.

Homefront is still the same. Nothing remarkable has happened..yet. As for Naren…well let’s just say, the little said the better 🙂 Honestly, I don’t know where to begin with regards to his tremendous “growth”. The questions (ah those….parents, I am sure you know all about it) are endless, mind boggling many a time, downright silly and most of all funny! His take on things are amazing and makes you wonder about it. 

Kodi’s mom moved to Seattle, and we have now met about 4-5 times (KM if you are reading, correct me if I am wrong) and in her opinion, Naren is a sweet boy and not at all who I project him to be. Well, she hasn’t seen enough of him yet. Naren and Kodi have taken to each other quiet well, with Naren calling Kodi as Anna and Plane papa as Baby. Many days, when he returns home from school the drama begins in this way..

“Amma, I love Kodi anna and he is very good. I loooooooovvvvveeee him and want to play with him. Please can we go to their house? I will share all my things with Baby too…pleeeeeaasssee Amma.”

Throw in a lot of exaggerations in the mix and will tell you why I call this a drama…but I am glad they are cool with each other. Another blogger I met a few times now is Saranya. Let me tell you..she and her hubby are one of the most coolest, down to earth people (so is KM) and Saranya, I am still drooling over those potatoes you made…tried to recreate it and while it came close to yours, it just wasn’t the same. I am glad to have known you both through this blog world. Thank you ladies!

Preschool is fast coming to an end in another 2 weeks after which we are flying out to NJ to spend a couple of weeks with my brother and his family. This will be the first time, the cousins get to meet each other and they are all super excited about it. Planning is already under way to fight a lot, slap each other, hug and kiss and what not. I am looking forward to this meet. Life will be pretty exciting those couple of weeks.

Ok…this is the update in a nutshell. Will come back as soon as possible. In the meantime, stick around and keep well. I have been following many of my favorite blogs and it is good to be in the know. Ta ta for now! and have fun.

What’s been happening at our end?

I have been long away from this blog that sometimes feels like I have stopped it all together. But no…I have been meaning to update, but then nothing goes according to plan, when there is a little one in the house and then too, it is the end of the year which means there is a lot of wrapping up of things going on…nothing physically, just that a lot of things come to a close. And a new list needs to be planned for the up coming year…not a resolution list, more like a list of things/stuff that needs to be accomplished.

Where did I go? Nowhere! I didn’t go on a vacation or anything…been in and around the house. Let’s tackle this step by step.

Dec 17th: Last day of school for Naren which also happened to be the day of a Christmas celebrations for the parents by the kids. The school is doing this for the first time (they are a 3yr old school) and I must say, that it was a huge hit. Each class performed. The Toddler class, in which Naren is, performed 1 song about the arrival of Jesus, and they practiced it for 2 whole months…all actions and singing included. The boy with his mates walked on to the stage and refused to move away from the microphone and stood next to a pretty little girl. The original plan was for him to stand in the second row, next to a boy from his class. But NO! He has his own plans and so he stood where he wanted to. The lights dimmed and the song started. And he sang and followed directions from the conductor…he swayed, he bounced and he danced. He smiled and best of all…sang. Finally after the song was done, he took a bow that would have put any Prince to shame and waited with his best buddy A, until I picked him up. Since we were asked not to take pictures with flash (as it was inside a closed audi, there would be flash..hence couldn’t get any), as it could distract and scare the kids, no photos, until the school issues the CD.

2 weeks prior to that: The boy was sick…a viral infection that wouldn’t give up for 2 whole weeks. The first week was lots and lots of throwing up, that just took away all of his strength. The second week started with a bang. He woke up one Sunday night complaining that he couldn’t breathe…we rushed to the ER where he was administered the meds and stayed there for a long night and came back home, only to repeat the sequence that night too. And then we went to the Doctor’s office every single day, where he was continuously monitored since his throat was severely infected that was reducing the oxygen that went in. All of this was accompanied by a fever that hovered between 103-105F. At one point we were thinking it could have been the swine flu, but the oppurtunity for the same was less, as he is vaccinated against it. Thanks to a lot of prayers from friends and good wishes, we managed it without any sleep for 5 days. An hour’s worth of shut eye was the only possible break that I got.

That should pretty much explain where I have been since my last post. And now that the little guy is home, not much time to get any blog work done. We are not planning on any vacations even though a lot of friends are doing it or have done it, as I really really want to get some work done in the house. We have been meaning to change the room that is under the stairs, into a pantry/store room for all the stuff that is lying around. And change the current store room into a much more usable room…make it into a working place and fit in a treadmill or any other exercise machine. Lets see. So far, nothing has been done, as the husband is on a vacation at home and that means just a lot of time being wasted in front of the TV and lolling around. I am not sure, I am liking this one bit. I hope to get it done, because it means we have to wait until next year to plan this again. I will update as any work gets done.

Ciao!

Live art

Any form of live art such as pottery making, painting and so on can mesmerize me. The new addition to this being, Sand Art. Wow! I am not sure if this has been around a while now, but for me it is absolutely new and as I said, mesmerizing. I can spend hours together watching videos of this performing art. I know dance and singing can also be included in the category of performing arts, but for me personally, it is not as moving as seeing something like this kind of art. I think it is seeing something come alive, giving some form to something as common as sand and spinning a tale out of it, that creates the magic. I took a course on Pottery making in the community college some 5yrs back and one of my most favorite part of the class was observing the instructor throw the clay on the wheel. Creating a form out of a blob of clay was something that made me happy every time. I can’t put down that feeling in words really. Happy comes close to what I felt, but not close enough. When I tried my hand at the wheel….well, lets save that story for another rainy day. I have linked the video of this amazing woman, who’s hands will have to be preserved in nothing but the most luxurious silk and gold and satin and pearls and anything else that will do justice. Her hands move like magic, and she creates beautiful stories..though many of them are about happiness and the ravages of the war, I love the way she creates form after form. Enjoy the video as much as I did! And I hope I can see Kseniya Simonova perform live one day.

Vanity fair?

As we were getting ready for school one dull grey morning, I asked the boy to come brush his teeth. After the usual biggu/alatal, the boy finally did the task with as much paste being ingested rather than brushed with. Then I washed his face which was followed by a shriek, that jolted the bones into their rightful place in the body and chased any lingering sleep/fog in the brain to any where they can go hide.

Me: “Ethukku ippadi katharey?” (Why are you screaming?)

Naren: “Amma, ethukku face wash pannareenga ennakku?” (Amma, why are you washing my face?)

Me: “Enn?”  (Why?)

Naren: “Ennakku face wash panna, naan urrugi poiduven” (If you wash my face then won’t I melt away?)

Me: ***Has a totally stupid look on my face**** “Huh?”

Naren: “Apparom, naan ugly ah irrukamaatena?” (Won’t I then be ugly?) All of his conversations were accompanied by a whine that would have given a violin a run for what it was worth.

I didn’t know how to respond to this, and just force washed the boy’s face and got him ready for school. I still have a stupid look on my face whenever I recall the conversation. Man, vanity surely doesn’t have an age bar, does it????

Future plans are very clear

That is so.  For the 3yr old boy who lives with us. On Saturday, which was Halloween day, late in the evening, I asked the boy to march upstairs for his pre-bed bath. He refused (obviously). When asked why, he said, he wanted to watch the movie on TV…which we refused(obviously) since it was the scary kind, that will for sure, make the boy squeeze out pee in the bed. After 5mins of haggling and threatening the boy walked upstairs (since this is not a democracy, he had no choice, right from the start of this conversation), and while in the tub, declared so.

” Amma, I am 3 now. When I am a biiiiggg boy, I will watch all the scary movies and become strong (flexing his arms for added drama and effect) and you will not say anything then. Ok?” I did not answer, but did you think that stopped the boy for a min?  Nope. Not at all. He went, “OK???” for the next 10mins, until he squeezed out the OK from my mouth. Little does he know, that it will still not be a democracy, even 10yrs down the line 🙂

 

Growing up to be….

A week after the little guy turned 3, the little guy put his stethoscope around his neck and proclaimed, “Naan biiiiiiiiiiigggg boy aaanna aprome, Dr.A mathiri, Dr. Naren agaporaen”. (When I am a big boy, I will be Dr.Naren, like Dr. A- his peds).

Approximately 12hrs passed and this time he made another proclamation. “Naan biiiiiiiiiiigggg boy aaanna aprome, Policeman aagi, Arj, Ank a nalla adi adi podaporaen.” (When I am a big boy, I will a Policeman and I will beat up Arj and Ank –  2 of his classmates, who recently had an altercation with the boy. He has been thought that only Policemen have the rights to beat up other people, especially when someone commits a mistake. I see that the lesson has been well imbibed).

My heart is swelling with pride, that it could blast out any moment now. I see my duties very clearly cut out for me since this seems to be the stage when he can understand that he can be whatever he well pleases to be and I have to introduce him to a lot of professions out there.

The little boy who turned 3!

Yes and so he did. On the 19th. Nothing fancy since he had already celebrated his turning 3 on Diwali day amidst a gathering of friends who included Kodi’s mom with Kodi, Plane and Bappa and of course Saranya and Arun. Thank you to both for making it a good party.

What has changed? He has turned into this amazingly talkative child in a matter of a couple of months and the things that he can talk about, baffles me to no end. His teacher(s) comment about his dramatic improvement in his vocabulary and I do have to agree with them. It’s too much man on somedays. He is also developing to be a very sensitive, observant, loving child. I am not sure, if this sensitivity is common of this age, but, it is both heartwarming and heartbreaking depending upon the situation. He has also started to keep his love for other people to himself and pretends that he is all mature and not into expressing his love and yet at times, it overfills him, that it has to come gushing out that it can topple you over. Yep! He gets all physical with his love….he will come running to you to give you the best of the hug and kiss. He can also let you know what he is thinking without air brushing it. Like when his class teacher was playing an alphabet game int he class, he sat in his chair and observed her for a whole minute or 2 and proclaimed, “Silly Ms.J” with all the head shaking accompanied. Now, that is his favorite word…anything you do, you will be called silly and to your face. All I can do is, roll my eyes behind his back and ask him to please not say that.  Other than these, he loves to draw….balloons and only balloons. Depending on his mood, they either have a sad, happy or frowny face. And he is writing N for Naren…upside down. Hey! he is trying at least 🙂  Eating…let’s not even go there. Because then it will be time for su-su and potty or tummy aches that can never be treated, even by his Dr.A. Enough said, huh? This phase shall pass too.  His school has started a music, art and worship day. For the first time yesterday, he sang the Do re me….and pretended to play the hand bells. That was very moving to hear him sing. As for worship, he is doing alright there. The only prayer that has stuck with him is the “Thank you for the food we eat”. Isn’t it ironical?  The other thing that  is, he is starting to worry a lot about what he wears. He has this pre conceived notion about which clothes are to be worn at home, to school, to the temple, to parties and so on…right down to the underwear. And you change one thing, and he will make sure you change it to his liking, with all that it takes…be it whining or crying or lovingly. And he will make sure to call me silly.

Now, did you think for a minute what an angel of a child he is? Wait, wait…I won’t allow you to leave this page, without you knowing about his other face. It’s terrible and scary. In just a matter of a second, he can transform into this uncontrollable, fiery tempered moron, who will bring the roof down with this screaming and back to his normal self (if you can call it that). All in the bat of an eyelid. Especially in the public. We are dealing with this nonsense. Sometimes, gently and sometimes the time honored way of a whack on his bottom.

No matter the temper tantrums or his pretending to be sick in the middle of a meal time, he is the one child (brat?) that I have been bestowed upon with. And he and I share this bond, that I do not want to share with anyone, including his Appa. This is our special bond, despite the quarrels (of course we do) and raised voices and silent tears and “I don’t like/love you’s”  the love I have for him is immeasurable. Children have a way of showing you that you can love someone unconditionally and be loved back a 1000 fold. I am not good with words when it comes to Naren, but, he is an amazing child who is teaching me so many new things and to look at this world through a set of new eyes. With him, every single day is a view through a kaleidoscope…..colourful and different with each turn. I leave you with a recent pic, since the camera is with a friend and will upload the photos soon.

Just click on the pics to see it bigger.

Memories from the ’80s

Recently my brother took a trip to India with his little daughter and brought back one very beautiful memory with him. It is a picture of a picture from the ’80s with all of us kids and our mom, taken in the most favorite place on earth…the house that we lived in, until I was about 10yrs. Though I don’t remember my early days in it, I do remember some funny incidents and all the fun and play we had in it. Until we moved to the current house my dad still lives in, we did not own a TV and I think those were the most happiest days  I remember as a family. It is very ironic that I associate the TV to the most happiest and most shocking days of my life (more about this later). I always have a smile on my face when I think of that house, though when compared to the current life that I lead, it seems very backward and simple yet very happy. How I miss that house. Anyways, I share the photo with you all.

 

 

Photo info : L-R: Brother, Mom, Elder brother with none other than me as a baby on his lap, Sister.

I thank my brother for this photo and I can’t wait to share it with Naren (with details) when he can understand it. He saw it and refused to believe that it is me…he thinks it is him!!!

The alphabet tag

My very first tag in the new blog and has anyone noticed that there aren’t many tags going around these days as they used to be? Or did I miss anything? Anyways, for this tag, I thank dear Trish and she says, do it using  “the first alphabet of your child’s name”. Since my child’s name starts with “N”, here we go….

1. What is your(child’s) name: Naren

2. A four Letter Word: Need (which is the word of choice these days at home for the 3yr old)

3. A boy’s Name: Naren

4. A girl’s Name: Niveditha/Nakshathra

5. An occupation: Nurse

6. A color: Navy blue/Neon pink or green

7. Something you wear: Necklace

8. A food: Nachos/Noodles/Nuggets.

9. Something found in the bathroom: Nail file

10. A place:New Zealand

11. A reason for being late: Not enough sleep/ Naren was crying (this one sounds more plausible)

12. Something you shout: NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! (this was the easiest)

13. A movie title: Naan Kadavul

14. Something you drink: Neer more (watered down buttermilk – room temp please on a hot sunny day).

15. A musical group: Am going to say songs instead…Nakka Mukka from Kadhalil Vizhunthen (it was a fav of the boy when he was in India).

16. An animal: Narwhal(I learnt this name from the boy….didn’t know, infact never heard of it before).

17. A Street name: Northup Way

18. A type of car: Nissan

19. A song title: Narumugaiye narumugaiye from the movie Iruvar.

20. A verb: Negotiate (which is what we do all the time in our house).

Let’s see…who should I tag??? How about

Abha

Dottie

This tag wasn’t as easy to complete…somethings Iwas stumped. Has to google some of them for ideas.